Children in a Fire

All we are and all we will ever be are children charging headlong into a fire

Laughing, because the flames are pretty and new and as children we laugh at things that are new

All the brazen-ness melting away only when it is too late

Flailing around because it is all we know how to do

And like children we have not nor will we ever be ready for the consequences of our own actions

The fire will roar, the flames will burn, and we will panic, searching for help

But none will come, the adults all having been burned away long ago

We will look for someone to blame

Maybe the other kids?

But they are stuck in the fire as well, each one pointing their finger at the next until it forms a circle

Most of us are preoccupied with panic and tear filled eyes that we fail to notice the nearby lake

The ones that point it out are shouted down

"It is too far"

"It is too difficult to get to"

"There is no point"